Two injured as fire guts home of LBJ’s daughter and former governor husband Chuck Robb

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A fire has destroyed the home of the eldest daughter of former President Lyndon B Johnson and her husband, a former senator and governor of Virginia.

The $3.4m mansion of Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, 77, and husband Chuck Robb, 82, was gutted overnight when the inferno overtook the home on Chain Bridge Road in McLean, an exclusive Virginia neighbourhood.

The mansion overlooks the Potomac River, which runs through Washington, DC, and neighbours reported seeing flames with smoke rising over the water.

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue were called to the scene at 11.30pm on Tuesday. Reports from emergency personnel suggest that the fire initially spread through the first floor of the home, but then moved on to rip apart the upper floors as well as the roof.

Officials said that two people fled the home and were taken to a nearby hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. It remains unclear if the two people who left the home were Ms Johnson Robb and Mr Robb.

In a message to reporters, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue said on Wednesday morning that there are “currently no updates”.

“Fire investigators must complete [an] investigation before [information regarding the] cause can be released,” they added, saying that the investigation can take days or weeks because of the “severity” of the fire.

According to officials, it took firefighters three hours to get the fire under control.

According to InsideNova, Mr Robb has owned the property since 1973. He served as the governor of Virginia from 1982 to 1986 and as a senator from 1989 until 2001. He published a memoir earlier this year, In The Arena, sharing his story of going from being a Marine to a major player in Democratic politics.

Mr Robb married Ms Johnson Robb at the White House in December 1967 after having met her while serving as a social aide in her father’s administration. Former members of the US military were often assigned to the role of attending to the needs of dignitaries visiting from abroad.

He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in the Vietnam War. He entered politics in the middle of the 1970s, working in local politics and serving on the Fairfax County Democratic Committee before becoming the lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1978.

He lost his senate seat to Republican George Allen, another former governor, in 2000.